K.Mandla's blog of Linux experiences

A comfortable limit

Over the years I’ve had a few offers to move beyond this medium into a venue that’s a bit broader — usually podcasts or something similar. And I am flattered by the offers, but I have to say no.

I am open about my efforts to maintain a severe divide between my online persona and my real life — open about being closed, so to speak. There’s no big secret — I’m not famous or influential at all, in fact it’s quite to the contrary.

However, I really feel there is a danger to giving up too much information to the Internet. You won’t find me on Facebook — K.Mandla or my real-life identity — or any other “social network,” unless the Ubuntu Forums counts.

It’s just too scary, if you ask me. The hottest commodity available in the world today is a secure grasp on an identity, and all the trappings that come with it.

And I don’t trust the Internet, with its flashing lights and shiny buttons, to keep that information secure. I’ve mentioned in the past my distrust of cloud computing, and this aversion is similar.

Something like a podcast — by virtue of tone of voice, accent or even speech patterns — would be giving away more information than I am comfortable with. More than the little I’ve made available already.

So I’ll say publicly, to the few offers I’ve received … thanks, but no thanks. This format, although I detest it in general, is a compromise between expression and privacy. For the time being, this is as far as I’ll go. 🙂